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Cited by 81Health disparities and outcomesAging, Health, and DisabilityAging, Elder Care, and Social Issues

Correlates of loneliness in older adults in Shanghai, China: does age matter?

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Yang, Fang, Zhang, Junan, Wang, Jianping·2018·BMC Geriatrics
DOI 10.1186/s12877-018-0994-xPMC PMC6278108
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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Loneliness is a public health concern with serious health consequences in older adults. Despite a large body of research on the correlates of loneliness, little is known about the age group differences in the correlates. Given that the older adult population is heterogeneous, this study aims to examine the correlates of loneliness in older adults in Shanghai, and to explore how the correlates vary across different age groups. METHODS: We used the Shanghai Urban Neighborhood Survey (SUNS) which was conducted in 2016 and 2017. The total sample size of older adults included in the analysis was 2770. Loneliness was measured using the sum of the 6 items derived from the De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale. Correlates include demographic variables, health conditions, social factors, and new media use. Regression analysis was used to examine the correlates of loneliness first in the whole sample, and then in the young old (60-79 years old) and the old old (80+ years old) separately. RESULTS: The mean of loneliness score was 18.48 (SD = 5.77). The old old reported a higher level of loneliness than the young old. Variables, including age, living arrangement, marital status, education, health, family functioning, volunteering, square dancing, and new media use were found to be significant in the whole sample. Most of the significant correlates observed in the young old were identical to the findings reported for the total sample, with an exception for living arrangement. Self-rated health (SRH) and family functioning were two important correlates for the old old. CONCLUSIONS: Correlates of loneliness vary for the young old and the old old. The older adults at higher risk of loneliness deserve more attention and concern. Future interventions should be tailored to the young old and the old old to better help older adults alleviate loneliness and enhance their well-being.

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Crossref · 10.1186/s12877-018-0994-x

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  • This study did not find a significant association between higher social engagement and higher loneliness.

    “we did not find a significant association between higher social engagement and higher loneliness.”

    From Factors associated with loneliness in a national study among persons 80 years and older in India in 2017-2018 (2025) · cites this paper as [36]

    The Results (Regression results in the whole sample) report significant negative associations: more frequent contact with neighbors, volunteering, and square dancing were each associated with lower loneliness. The Discussion notes that some social-participation factors were not significant for the old-old subgroup, but that does not support a claim of no significant association for the study overall. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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  • Among the oldest-old, health-related factors associated with loneliness include functional disability, multimorbidity, poor self-rated health, and depressive symptoms.

    “Health-related factors associated with loneliness among the oldest-old included functional disability [4,11], multimorbidity [11], poor self-rated health [10,11,36], and depressive symptoms [10,18].”

    From Factors associated with loneliness in a national study among persons 80 years and older in India in 2017-2018 (2025) · cites this paper as [36]

    The Results (Regression results by age groups; page unavailable) show that poorer self-rated health was associated with loneliness among the old old. IADL disability and chronic disease were not significant for that age group; the Discussion says they were significant only for the young old. The citing sentence attributes depressive symptoms to other references, not this paper. (LLM, conf=0.90)

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  • This study did not find a significant association between living alone and loneliness.

    “this study did not find a significant association.”

    From Factors associated with loneliness in a national study among persons 80 years and older in India in 2017-2018 (2025) · cites this paper as [36]

    The Results section (‘Regression results by age groups’; page unavailable) reports no significant association between living alone and loneliness among the young old. But it reports a significant association for the old old (B = 1.91, p < .01), and the whole-sample Results also find one. The claim omits the age-group limitation. (LLM, conf=0.90)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Among the oldest-old, social factors associated with loneliness include living alone, being institutionalised, having a small social network size, lower family functioning, reduced chatting with neighbours, and not using social media on the internet.

    “Social factors associated with loneliness among the oldest old included living alone [4,18,27,36], institutionalised [11,27], having a small social network size [10], lower family functioning [36], reduced chatting with neighbours [36], and not using social media on the internet [30].”

    From Factors associated with loneliness in a national study among persons 80 years and older in India in 2017-2018 (2025) · cites this paper as [36]

    The Results section’s age-group regression reports living alone and lower family functioning as correlates of loneliness among the old-old. Its final model also marks less chatting with neighbours as significant, but the Results narrative and Discussion explicitly say neighbour contact was no longer significant for that age group. This source is cited for those three factors, not for institutionalisation, network size or social-media use. (LLM, conf=0.83)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Studies of loneliness in the oldest-old have been conducted in high-income countries or high-income contexts.

    “all of these studies were conducted in high-income countries (Germany: [10,11]; Australia: [4]; Sweden/ Finland: [18,27]) or high-income context, Shanghai, China [36]”

    From Factors associated with loneliness in a national study among persons 80 years and older in India in 2017-2018 (2025) · cites this paper as [36]

    The Discussion identifies this as a study of loneliness in Shanghai that compares the young-old and old-old; the Methods specify an old-old group aged 80 and above. The cited paper does not characterize Shanghai as a high-income context, so it supports the study’s location and population but not that economic classification. (LLM, conf=0.84)

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Cites

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Research works printed but not linked: 8

  1. [11]Del Barrio E, Castejón P, Sancho CM, Tortosa MA, Sundström G, Malmberg B. Loneliness among the elderly in Spain and Sweden: context and culture. Revistaespanola de geriatriaygerontologia 2010;45(4):189. 20430479
  2. [17]Perlman D Peplau LA Gilmour R Duck S Toward a social psychology of loneliness Personal relationships 3: personal relationships in disorder 1981 London Academic Press 31 43
  3. [22]Lin QL Lin MZ The validity and reliability of the Chinese version of De Jong Gierveld loneliness scale--the case of older adults Journal of Counseling 2007 29 2 41 50
  4. [40]Shanghai Government China, 2018 2016 Shanghai National economy and social development bulletin
  5. [49]Sun, X. China Urban Society dynamics: Shanghai survey 2017. Social Sciences Academic Press; 2018 (CHINA).(in Chinese).
  6. [50]Wang JP, Ye JT. The social adjustment of older migrants in urban cities-based on Shanghai urban neighborhood study. Journal of Huazhong University of Science and Technology (Social Science Edition)2018;2:8–15. (in Chinese).
  7. [56]ZengYI and George LK. Population Aging and Old-Age Care in China[A]. Dale Dannefer and Chris Phillipson(eds.).Sage handbook of social gerontology[C]. Sage Publisher,2010:420.
  8. [60]Liu LJ Guo Q Loneliness and health-related quality of life for the empty nest elderly in the rural area of a mountainous county in China Qual Life Res 2007 16 8 1275 1280 10.1007/s11136-007-9250-0 17703375 · DOI · Paper page

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Authors
Yang, F., Zhang, J., & Wang, J.
Affiliations
Shanghai University (CN)
Corresponding author
Yang, Fang
ORCID
Venue
BMC Geriatrics
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2018-12
Volume
18
Issue
1
Pages
300-300
ISSN
1471-2318 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1186/s12877-018-0994-x
PMC
PMC6278108
OpenAlex
W2902726191
Cited by
81
References
67
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 6
FWCI
6.40
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • BMC Geriatrics (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
Funders
National Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science (17CRK014)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Aging, Health, and Disability
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Aging, Elder Care, and Social Issues
Keywords
loneliness, older adults, age differences, young-old, old-old, living arrangements, marital status, self-rated health, family functioning, volunteering, square dancing, new media use, social isolation, Shanghai
MeSH terms
Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Aging, China, Female, Humans, Loneliness, Male, Middle Aged, Surveys and Questionnaires, Residence Characteristics, Social Support, Marital Status

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